Plans for 60-acre plaza in Mesa are downsized

Developers aiming to build a sprawling grocery-anchored plaza in southeastern Mesa have reduced their plan’s footprint dramatically after city planners skewered the initial proposal, saying it would squander both area resources and part of Mesa’s employment base.

Southeast Valley zoning attorney Ralph Pew had submitted a rezoning application on behalf of Whane of Mesa Limited Partnership earlier this summer, hoping to clear the way for a roughly 380,000-square-foot strip mall at the northwestern corner of Signal Butte and Elliot roads.

In addition to the grocery store, intended uses included a drug store, bank, gas station, hotel, retail and one-story offices and restaurants. The initial plan spanned about 60 acres.

“Pew and his team are currently working on a downsized version of their commercial request” — about 20 acres — after planning staff indicated they might support a 17-acre version that better addressed city goals for the zone, according to city planner Jason Sanks.

The site falls within the mixed-use community district of the Mesa Gateway Strategic Development Plan, whose primary goals are “to create a solid employment base (of at least 100,000 high-wage jobs) for the city of Mesa while allowing for a mix of land uses in close proximity to one another for the purpose of long-term economic stability,” according to a city staff report.

The area boasts “very valuable water, power and fiber resources ... that make it a unique asset to potential high-tech industries,” the report said, adding that the “proposed shopping center has no need for the capacity these utilities can provide.”

Low-wage, service-oriented jobs would dominate the plaza, and “the impact of allowing a typical strip retail center on this property impacts not only itself with a loss of potential high-wage jobs, it could further depress the job opportunities on property around it,” the report continued.

“Chandler spent 20 years protecting the Price Road corridor for employment and has been recently applauded for its efforts in creating a sustainable job base in their city,” it said.

“The city of Mesa has also maintained a business-park designation for this property since before 1988 in a similar effort to protect employment.”

Pew said “other uses would ... absolutely be a topic of discussion” moving forward but did not elaborate.

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